


Streetlight Martyrs

by Melanin_Ink



Series: Being special should feel more... special. [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-02-11 16:30:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12939216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melanin_Ink/pseuds/Melanin_Ink
Summary: There's been talk of an underground organization that hunts down those with powers called The Tainted. Tensions get high as several people go missing and nothing is being done. Those with that label are left hoping they're not the next one to go.





	1. An Intro

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this will have shipping or not. We'll just have to see how it goes!

Jeremy was awaken by the feeling of gentle shaking. As he groggily opened his eyes and sat up, he saw Matt peering down at him. When his eyes fully adjusted, he noticed how he was completely dressed. Jeremy spared a glance at the clock that said 5 am.

"Why are you dressed? It's 5 am and you don't have classes today." Jeremy raised a brow.

Since their second year of college started, they haven't been able to spend very much time together. With classes and work getting in the way, there was no free time left.The friendship between Matt, himself, and Trevor was growing more and more difficult to manage. Speaking of Trevor, he wasn't in his bed like he was the night before. But before Jeremy had a chance to ask where he was, Matt butted in.

"We are going out for breakfast in about 5 minutes. You, me, and Trevor. And before you ask, he's in the living room. We're just waiting on you." He smiled before heading out the door.

Jeremy found himself grinning as he got out of bed and changed into actual clothes. He slipped his shoes on and grabbed his phone before leaving the room. As he entered the living room, he was welcomed by the sight of Trevor and Matt talking in low voices on the couch. As he entered the room, they ceased talking to smile at him.

"Alright, we can go now."

 

 

"So, what's with the sudden need to go out? You guys were pretty keen on staying in the dorm for the rest of the weekend."

The three of them were situated in one of the small corner booths of the campus diner. Their drinks were barely touched as a thick air of tension hung around them. Jeremy didn't know when their atmosphere changed, but it certainly was noticeable. Neither Matt nor Trevor had the relaxed demeanor that was present that morning. They exchanged looks before Trevor spoke.

"Jeremy, do you remember the incident that occurred a few weeks ago? At the black light party, you said you kept feeling nauseous ."

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, I kept getting random headaches throughout the night. I just figured it was because of the shitty light system they rigged up. What about it?"

"Well…it's just…me and Matt-" He stumbled over his words a few times before sighing in defeat.

There was a pause.

"Someone was trying to control you."

Both pairs of eyes flicked to Matt, one nervous and the other confused.

"W…what? What do you mean control?” Jeremy leaned closer. “Like mind control?"

"Yes, like mind control. Or something along those lines. We aren't totally sure about the control part, but definitely something with the mind. It may not seem very probable, but Trevor and I were looking out that night."

 

~

_“Matt, have you noticed that guy over there staring at us?”_

_Matt made a quick glance in the mysterious man’s direction before turning back to Trevor and nodding._

_“Yeah, I have. And it’s starting to get on my nerves, honestly. He can at least pretend to be looking somewhere else when we catch him staring.” Matt grumbled into his plastic cup._

_Trevor turned from his spot against the wall to peer down the hallway that lead to the bathroom, checking to see if Jeremy was on his way back. Once he found it empty, he resumed his spot on the wall._

_“Should I go over there?” Trevor asked and narrowed his eyes at the guy with obnoxious neon face paint._

_Matt shook his head._

_“Nah, he’s probably just drunk as shit. After all, it is a party.”_

_“He just seems kinda off, don’t you think?” Trevor crossed his arms._

_“Again, it’s probably the alcohol.”_

_Before they could continue their conversation, Jeremy walked around the corner. He leaned against his spot between the two and grinned._

_“What did I miss?”_

_Matt scoffed, “Nothing interesting. Just a bunch of drunks waddling around and tripping into shit.”_

_“Hey, that sounds pretty interesting to me.” Jeremy chuckled._

_“How’s your head feeling?” Trevor interrupted._

_Jeremy shrugged, “It’s a whole lot better than it was a few minutes ago. I think I’m just gonna lay off the alcohol for the rest of the night.”_

_“That’s fine.”_

_They sat back and chilled against the wall well into the night. Every now and then, Trevor would sneak peaks at the man across the room only to find him talking to someone else. Once he felt like he wouldn’t look back over there, Trevor would turn back to his friends. As they chatted about random things, Jeremy fell more and more quiet. It got to the point where he didn’t even pitch anything anymore. It persisted for a while until Matt finally asked him what was wrong._

_“The headache…it just came back and it feels a thousand times worse than before.” Jeremy clutched his head and scrunched his eyes closed._

_Matt and Trevor were on him in seconds, wrapping their arms around him securely and leading him towards the door._

_“We’ll go home and you can rest then, alright.” Matt said lightly._

_As they exited the dorm, Trevor spared one last look at the man on the other side of the room. They were standing with two other now. All decked out in bright face paint and all staring at them. Trevor's stomach dropped as they vanished between the rowdy crowd of drunks and pulsing lights._

 ~

 

“God, what could I have possibly done to give myself away? I mean, we obviously didn’t know them and they couldn’t have known us. So what made me a target?” Jeremy ran a hand through his hair.

“That’s the thing; we don’t know. Unless they were snooping around us, they’d have no reason to think anything of us.” Trevor sighed.

“But if one of them was trying to read you and they have been spying on us, then they could possibly know we have... abilities. Hell, they might even know and be trying to kill us.” Matt added.

Jeremy sat back and processed what he had just heard silently. In the silence, their waiter dropped off their food and left them with a smile. As soon as they were alone again, he spoke.

“What I want to know is why you guys decided not to tell me sooner.” He frowned at them.

“We just didn’t want to worry you until we were sure about it. You already had a lot on your plate with classes and we didn’t want to add to the stress.” Trevor explained slowly.

Jeremy scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Trevor, I think this is a little more important. This can put us in great danger.”

“Well yeah, obviously. What Trevor and I are trying to get at is that we aren't completely sure if the random strangers are friendly or not.” Matt interjected.

“This is a tricky situation, Jeremy. We don't even know what they look like because they were wearing face paint that night. We have no leads and no one else who we know at this campus who has abilities.”

“Okay then. So what do we do now?” Jeremy sighed.

“Well…” Matt gazed up at the ceiling. “We don't really have a legit plan set out. So for now, we just wait. We watch out for each other and for anything strange.”

Jeremy rubbed at his eyes roughly.

“Yeah whatever. I'll follow your lead.”


	2. Chapter 2

   Jeremy's head swam as he sat in the laundromat waiting for his clothes to dry. His hands were buried deep in his hoodie and his head was burrowed in a scarf like a turtle. The dryer thumped as it rattled the clothes inside and sighed. Even the slightest noises caused his head to throb. He blinked his eyes sleepily and spared a glance around the place.

   There were several magazines and newspapers lying in piles all around the room. Some were on the ground pushed under seats while others laid on top. One had been discarded by Jeremy's feet, propped open. Jeremy spared a quick glance at its contents before he blushed and nudged it away. There were a few empty cups of coffee and just general trash that needed to be picked up.

    Towards the back of the laundromat, several small carts were stacked together against the wall. The walls themselves were a pale pink with an obnoxious blue trimming. It peeled and spotted with age. Jeremy didn't even need to look up to know that the ceiling had a leak because he'd seen plenty of puddles on the floor. The entire place smelled of stale detergent.

   A TV located in one of the top corners of the room played the news. Jeremy stared at the screen. There were several pictures with names and descriptions underneath them. The title at the top read ' _ MISSING PERSONS’. _

_ “....police are left baffled at the sudden sweep of disappearances in Los Santos. With no leads and evidence to track, cases are at a standstill. The chief has advised everyone to avoid venturing out past dark and is setting up a mandatory curfew for those who are minors…”  _

   He ignored the rest of the news story and chose to look around again. The only other people in the laundromat were a man snoozing in the corner and the laundromat attendee, who happened to be Jeremy's friend Jon. When he looked in his direction, he received a wave from his friend sat at the counter. He looked back at the timer on his dryer.

   ‘ _ Still 20 more minutes. Ugh.’ _

__ Jeremy groaned and closed his eyes.

   “Hey.”

   His eyes shot open and locked with Jon's. His hand was extended towards him, clutching a $20 bill.

   “Can you run to the liquor store down the street and get me some fruit snacks? I can't really leave here, even if it  _ is _ late.”

   Jeremy nodded and stood from his seat.

  “Thanks man. Buy yourself something, too. You still got some time before your load is done anyways.” Jon grinned and patted him on the shoulder.

 

   Jeremy shuddered as he exited and walked down street. It was 10:30 pm and the street was surprisingly quiet. It allowed Jeremy to think about the talk he had with Matt and Trevor that morning. He had avoided them as much as possible after breakfast, only leaving his room to go to the bathroom and get food. Then eventually, he had laundry to do and it gave him an excuse to leave the apartment. He wanted to feel bad, but they had just unloaded so much information at him all at once. He could barely handle it and he needed to breathe for a bit.

   ‘ _ I mean, they understand that.’  _ Jeremy thought.

   Jeremy thought back to the party and frowned at the memory. How could he have not noticed something was off that night? It made so much sense that someone was trying to mess with him. He was vulnerable, a little tipsy, and unaware of his surroundings at the time. He couldn't remember anyone's face at that party besides Matt's and Trevor's. But that was mostly because he wasn't even paying attention. It was just a bunch of drunk people with glowing face paint. Even the thought of that  _ face paint  _ wanted to make Jeremy gag and he wasn't even hungover anymore.

   He shook his head and huffed. He was going to hold off on those thoughts until the morning. He was too exhausted to be thinking this extensively about anything. He reached the liquor store and quickly grabbed some fruit snacks. Looking around the small space, he also grabbed a granola bar and two bottles of water before heading to the front counter to pay. Afterwards, he made his way back to the laundromat.

   As he got closer, he squinted at the scene that showed through its windows. The sleeping man from earlier was now awake. Not only was he awake, he was sporadically dancing around the room. He also saw Jon nodding his head and drumming his fingers to a beat that was too low to pierce the glass. Jeremy slowly approached the door and walked inside.

   The bell jingled and upon seeing the snacks, Jon stretched his arms towards Jeremy to make grabby hands. Jeremy laughed and threw him his food as well as his change. He turned back to watch the man dance, but was surprised to see the man sitting back in his chair fast asleep. He looked to Jon with his mouth agape.

   “Wasn't that guy  _ just  _ dancing a second ago?”

   Jon, too preoccupied with his fruit snacks, only nodded and said, “Crazy people.”

  
  
  


   Jeremy made his entrance quiet when he entered the his apartment. There was no telling whether or not his roommates we're asleep and he didn't want to text them. His laundry bag was slung over his shoulder as he crept through the living room, which he found empty. As he walked towards his room, the bedroom door opened and Matt stepped out. He jolted and clasped a hand to his chest when he noticed Jeremy.

   “My god, you scared the shit outta me!” He whispered harshly.

   Jeremy shrugged.

   “Sorry.”

   He went to walk past Matt and a hand fell on his shoulder. He looked at Matt reluctantly.

   “Look, man. I wanna apologize for this morning. I know we kinda info dumped on you without warning and that wasn't okay of us.”

   Jeremy shook his head. “ Nah, it's fine. You don't need to apologise. I get where you guys were coming from. So much stuff has been happening lately, like all those disappearances…” Jeremy paused. “I guess everything has just been making me paranoid. I'm glad you guys told me about what happened at the party. I  _ want  _ to help. Those people can be trouble and I wouldn't want you or Trevor dealing with them alone.”

   Matt smiled and hugged Jeremy. “I'm glad you're not angry with us. Trevor has been moping around all day. And I can tell because it's getting colder and colder in here.” He nodded towards his room. “You should go check in with him. Y'know,  _ before  _ my toes freeze off. ”

   With that, Matt turned and returned to his room. Jeremy sighed before quickly chucking his bag of clothes into his room before going to Trevor's door. He gingerly knocked on the door.

   “Trevor, buddy. You okay?”

   He got no response and decided to open the door anyway. He was immediately his with cool air that nipped at his skin. He shuddered and his breath clouded in front of his face. From his spot in the doorway, he saw Trevor's shaking body curled up on his bed. His face was scrunched and a thin layer of frost was set on his hair. Jeremy stepped closer to him, each step cracking the icy carpet. He crouched down next to the bed.

   “Trevor. Hey, wake up please.”

   With some gentle shaking, Trevor's eyes blinked open blearily. They glazed over immediately.

   “J…Jeremy, I'm so-”

   Jeremy leaned over to embrace him. His whole body felt frozen.

   “Stop. Don't apologize. I'm not mad at anyone and I don't want you beating yourself up over this.”

   He felt Trevor hug him tightly and nod. He stood and smiled at him.

   “Now cheer up before you freeze our entire apartment.”


End file.
